NOTA
NOTA = None Of The Above Links Media Opinion: None of the Above by Dimitri Vassilaros :Source: by Dimitri Vassilaros of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on November 5, 2006 http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/columnists/vassilaros/s_478130.html Robert Szypulski believes hundreds of thousands of Americans died to protect your right to vote for the lesser of two evils. The Penn Township reader was upset by last Sunday's editorial that recommended "neither" in the race for Pennsylvania governor. He e-mailed the following: :I don't care if you print the letter, but shame on every Trib writer/editor who dares to not vote because the choices don't meet your standards. Voting principles mean nothing compared to the human life sacrificed for our right to choose ... even poorly. Gee, it's nice when elitists can take the blood-soaked privilege of voting for granted... The erudite Trib ordains that the choice between Ed Rendell and Lynn Swann isn't between two evils, but "two evils of parallel failings." They advise not voting for either. Nice. Way to honor the 625,000 American soldiers who've died in our wars to give high-minded Trib editors the chance to say, "no thanks." Way to stick it to every disabled veteran who'll use whatever limbs he has left to show up and pull a lever. Here's an idea: Two evils or not, parallel failings or not, corrupt incumbent or not, naive challenger or not, choose! Pick Fast Eddy or Lightweight Lynn. Crow about their successes. Show spine and take heat for their failures. But, by God, choose! Too many forgotten American heroes spoke last words no one heard on battlefields no one saw to allow us to. Szypulski's passion and patriotism cannot be questioned. His judgment can be. This Libertarian will take two seconds to vote on Tuesday -- "No" for the Persian Gulf Conflict Veterans' Compensation referendum. The candidates for governor, U.S. Senate and both chambers of the General Assembly are unworthy of my support. Refuse to compromise principle and the lesser evil cannot soil your vote. Some equate elections with horse racing and their vote, betting on a nag owned by one of the two dominant parties. Those voters belong at a parimutuel betting window. They will have more choices and a chance of actually winning something. What most Pennsylvania voters will see on Election Day is the result of the stranglehold the damnable duopoly has on government. Republican and Democrat politicians have rigged the election system to virtually eliminate candidates of other parties or independent candidates from getting on the ballot. There are two sets of rules -- easy ones for duopoly candidates and onerous ones for everyone else. By gerrymandering both have carved out grotesquely shaped but relatively safe districts where an overwhelming number of voters registered for one party virtually can ensure victory for its candidate. And laws covering federal offices -- limiting donations and participation in elections -- make it that much harder to challenge the political insiders. Is this what our brave troops died for? Is this what countless others risk their lives to preserve? Where is the so-called two-party system mentioned in the U.S. Constitution? Dictatorships have sacrificed millions of lives in wars and slaughtered millions more of their citizens to preserve a system where every survivor must vote for a sole candidate. Voting for evil does not honor the fallen. A principled vote does. category:democracy